Welcome to the UK Changing Union Project

Welcome

The UK’s Changing Union project was a joint initiative between the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, the Institute for Welsh Affairs, and Tommorrow’s Wales/Cymru Yfory on the future of the Union and the Welsh devolution settlement. The project ran for a three year period between 2012 and 2015. The partners were incredibly grateful to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Nuffield Foundation for supporting the project.

On this website you can find out more about the project’s work, publications and more about the project’s contributions to the debates on the future of the Union and the Welsh devolution settlement.

After three years of intensive analysis and discussion that has ranged across all four countries of the UK, as well as presenting extensive evidence to the Commission on Devolution in Wales (the Silk Commission), the project would like to present the following reflections to you with the objective of ensuring that, in the wake of the Scottish referendum, Wales is genuinely at the heart of the debate on the future of the union.

Since the constitutional debate continues to be a live and moving process, rather than firm recommendations we set out a range of issues that we believe should be central to the continuing deliberations on this subject. We have drawn not only on the evidence we have presented during the course of the project’s lifetime but also on the reflections of others during six forums organised by the project. Please note specifically the four possible principles that could be the bedrock to future debates on the constitution in the UK.

The project hopes these reflections are taken into consideration by one and all when deciding on the next steps for the constitution in Wales and the United Kingdom.